99 Nights in Logar

A finalist for the National Book Award - a luminous new collection of stories from a young writer with 'a singular, resonant voice, an American teenager raised by Old World Afghan storytellers' (New York Times) <BR><BR>**FINALIST FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION**<BR>**NAMED A BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 BY THE NEW YORKER AND THE ATLANTIC**<BR><BR>PEN/Hemingway finalist Jamil Jan Kochai breathes life into his contemporary Afghan characters, moving between modern-day Afghanistan and the Afghan diaspora in America. In these arresting stories verging on both comedy and tragedy, often starring young characters whose bravado is matched by their tenderness. <BR><BR>The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories is a moving exploration of characters grappling with the ghosts of war and displacement - and one that speaks to the immediate political landscape we reckon with today.<BR><BR>'An endlessly inventive and moving collection from a thrilling and capacious young talent' Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins.<BR><BR>'Kochai's short fiction defies expectations - readers' expectations of what a story should look like, and the story of a nation often told reductively and exclusively through media headlines' Guardian

FINALIST FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION<BR><BR>WINNER OF THE 2023 ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE, AND THE 2023 O. HENRY PRIZE<BR><BR>NAMED ONE OF THE NEW YORKER'S BEST BOOKS OF 2022<BR><BR>"An endlessly inventive and moving collection from a thrilling and capacious young talent." —Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins.<BR><BR>A luminous new collection of stories from a young writer who “has brought his culture’s rich history, mythology, and lyricism to American letters.” —Sandra Cisneros<BR><BR>Pen/Hemingway finalist Jamil Jan Kochai ​breathes life into his contemporary Afghan characters, moving between modern-day Afghanistan and the Afghan diaspora in America. In these arresting stories verging on both comedy and tragedy, often starring young characters whose bravado is matched by their tenderness, Kochai once again captures “a singular, resonant voice, an American teenager raised by Old World Afghan storytellers.”*<BR><BR>In “Playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain," a young man's video game experience turns into a surreal exploration on his own father's memories of war and occupation. Set in Kabul, "Return to Sender" follows two married doctors driven by guilt to leave the US and care for their fellow Afghans, even when their own son disappears. A college student in the US in "Hungry Ricky Daddy" starves himself in protest of Israeli violence against Palestine. And in the title story, "The Haunting of Hajji Hotak," we learn the story of a man codenamed Hajji, from the perspective of a government surveillance worker, who becomes entrenched in the immigrant family's life.<BR><BR>The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories is a moving exploration of characters grappling with the ghosts of war and displacement—and one that speaks to the immediate political landscape we reckon with today.<BR><BR>*The New York Times Book Review

Zwischen Afghanistan und Amerika: Jamil Jan Kochai erzählt in fein verknüpften Episoden eine große, berührende Familien- und Kriegsgeschichte.Ein afghanischer Teenager, der beim Videospielen in seinem kalifornischen Kinderzimmer versucht, den eigenen Vater in den virtuellen Welten vor der sehr realen Folter zu bewahren. Eine junge Frau in Kabul, die in letzter Sekunde für ihre Schwester bei der Zwangsheirat einspringt. Eine Gruppe Studenten, die sich solidarisieren im internationalen Kampf gegen die Unterdrückung, bis aus den akademischen Idealen bitterer Ernst wird. Ein amerikanischer Kampfpilot, der notlanden muss in dem afghanischen Dorf, das er eigentlich zerstören sollte. Oder der kalifornische Einwanderungsbeamte, der eine afghanische Familie ausspioniert, bis sie ihm so ans Herz wächst, dass er in einem entscheidenden Augenblick seine Pflichten vernachlässigt... Jamil Jan Kochai erzählt direkt aus dem Wahnsinn unserer Gegenwart, mal überbordend in seinem Einfallsreichtum, mal schonungslos klar. Seine Geschichten handeln von der ewigen Heimsuchung des Krieges, aber auch von seiner Bannung in der Sprache und der Phantasie.